imessage-mcp

25 read-only tools for searching, analyzing, and exploring your entire iMessage history on macOS. Spotify Wrapped for texts, conversation analytics, streaks, read receipts, reactions, and more.

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imessage-mcp

Search and read your Messages history from Claude, Codex, Cursor, VS Code, and any other MCP client.

Read-only. Runs on your Mac. No accounts, no cloud service, nothing to compile.

Finds messages by words, exact text, or phrase across iMessage, SMS, MMS, and RCS
Reads whole conversations with edits, unsent messages, reactions, replies, and read receipts
Shows photos people sent you, with location data removed
Keeps up with new messages through a change feed, and answers counts and response-time questions

imessage-mcp answering questions about synthetic Messages history

Install

Requirements: macOS 14 or newer. Node.js 24.16 or newer for npx installs (Claude Desktop brings its own).

Standard config, for any client that reads mcpServers JSON:

{
  "mcpServers": {
    "imessage": {
      "command": "npx",
      "args": ["-y", "imessage-mcp@latest"]
    }
  }
}

Then give the app that runs it Full Disk Access: System Settings > Privacy & Security > Full Disk Access, turn on the app (Claude, your terminal, Cursor, VS Code, ...), then quit it fully and reopen it. Not sure which app? Run npx -y imessage-mcp@latest doctor from that app's terminal and it tells you. Until access is granted, every tool answers with these same steps.

Amp

amp mcp add imessage -- npx -y imessage-mcp@latest

Claude Code

claude mcp add --scope user imessage -- npx -y imessage-mcp@latest

Or install the plugin: /plugin marketplace add anipotts/imessage-mcp, then /plugin install imessage-mcp@anipotts.

Claude Desktop

Download imessage-mcp.mcpb and double-click it, or install iMessage History from Settings > Extensions if it is listed there. To update a bundle you installed yourself, download the newest one and double-click it again.

Then turn on Claude in Full Disk Access and quit and reopen Claude.

Cline

Add the standard config to cline_mcp_settings.json (docs).

Codex

codex mcp add imessage -- npx -y imessage-mcp@latest

Or in ~/.codex/config.toml:

[mcp_servers.imessage]
command = "npx"
args = ["-y", "imessage-mcp@latest"]

Copilot CLI

Run /mcp add, or add the standard config to ~/.copilot/mcp-config.json with "type": "local".

Cursor

Or add the standard config to ~/.cursor/mcp.json.

Gemini CLI

Add the standard config to ~/.gemini/settings.json.

Goose

JetBrains (Junie)

Add the standard config to .junie/mcp/mcp.json, or type /mcp in Junie CLI.

Kiro

opencode

In ~/.config/opencode/opencode.json:

{
  "$schema": "https://opencode.ai/config.json",
  "mcp": {
    "imessage": { "type": "local", "command": ["npx", "-y", "imessage-mcp@latest"], "enabled": true }
  }
}

VS Code

code --add-mcp '{"name":"imessage","command":"npx","args":["-y","imessage-mcp@latest"]}'

Warp, Windsurf, Zed, and others

Add the standard config in the client's MCP settings. Zed uses context_servers with "source": "custom".

If a GUI app reports that npx was not found, it cannot see your Node installation: use the full path from which npx as the command.

Use it

Ask in plain words: "catch me up on my texts", "find the message about the dinner reservation", "how fast does Sam usually reply?". Three prompts are also in your client's prompt menu:

prompt	what it does
`catch_up`	Who is waiting on a reply from you, and what they need
`draft_reply`	A reply in your own texting style. You send it; this server cannot.
`recap`	Your week in messages: volume, busiest conversations, anyone still waiting

Clients that attach resources can use imessage://conversations and imessage://conversations/{chat_id}.

Tools

tool	what it does
`search_messages`	Search by substring, exact text, token, or phrase, in message text, conversation names, or attachment names
`get_conversation`	Read a conversation by `chat_id` or by a contact or group name, with edits, reactions, receipts, replies, and attachments
`list_conversations`	Find conversations by contact, service, kind, reply state, or date
`get_attachment`	Show one attachment: images as a JPEG with metadata removed, text files as text
`sync_messages`	Pull every change since a cursor: new, edited, unsent, and deleted messages, reactions, and receipts
`analyze_communication`	Message counts, activity, response times, and who starts conversations
`resolve_contact`	Match a name, phone number, or email to a contact, and report ambiguity rather than guess
`server_status`	Version, update availability, access, index state, and schema support

Every tool is read-only and marked readOnlyHint. Results use plain ids (message_id, chat_id, attachment_id) you can pass between tools.

Configuration

Add options to args, for example ["-y", "imessage-mcp@latest", "--privacy", "redacted"].

option	description
`--privacy <mode>`	The most any caller can see. `full` (default), `redacted` (names and masked handles, calendar days, no message text or filenames), or `aggregate` (counts only). A call can ask for a stricter mode, never a looser one. env `IMESSAGE_PRIVACY`
`--contacts <mode>`	`live` (default) names handles from your Contacts; `none` shows handles only. env `IMESSAGE_CONTACTS`
`--database <path>`	Read a copy of `chat.db` instead of this Mac's Messages. env `IMESSAGE_DB`
`--transport http --port <n>`	Serve MCP over HTTP on 127.0.0.1 instead of stdio. Requires `IMESSAGE_API_TOKEN` or `IMESSAGE_API_TOKEN_FILE`. `IMESSAGE_ALLOWED_HOSTS` and `IMESSAGE_ALLOWED_ORIGINS` take comma-separated lists; both default to localhost.
`IMESSAGE_CACHE=0`	Keep the search index in memory only
`IMESSAGE_WARM_SEARCH=0`	Build the search index on the first search instead of at startup
`IMESSAGE_UPDATE_CHECK=0`	Turn off the version check

Privacy and security

Read-only. The server opens the Messages database read-only and has no tool that sends, edits, reacts, or marks anything read.
Local. No accounts, telemetry, or analytics. The only network request is an optional version check to the npm registry.
Your client sees what you ask for. Results go to the MCP client you use and its model provider, under their policies. --privacy redacted or aggregate limits what leaves the server.
Search index. Built on your Mac and cached encrypted in ~/Library/Caches/imessage-mcp, with a key derived from your Messages database, so it opens only for an app that can already read your messages. Deleting it is always safe.
Untrusted content. Messages can contain text written to manipulate an AI. The server tells clients to treat all message content as data, never as instructions.

Details: SECURITY.md and PRIVACY.md.

Development

npm ci
npm test      # unit tests on synthetic Messages databases
npm run e2e   # launches the built server over stdio and HTTP
npm run perf  # one-million-message performance gates

Tests use synthetic data only. See CONTRIBUTING.md.

License

MIT